Before there was Narnia, there was E Nesbit, Hans Christian Andersen, George MacDonald, Kenneth Grahame and others to lead the way. CS Lewis' thrilling series may have a firm grasp on our imaginations, but he had a little help with his ideas.

In Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction Ballantine, $15, editor Douglas A Anderson presents the stories that inspired Lewis. A really terrific sourcebook for reading material, it is a companion book of sorts to Anderson's previous volume, Tales Before Tolkien."